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EP. 9: A PHILOSOPHY FOR HARD TIMES: MASSIMO PIGLIUCCI

July 17, 2017 by Larry Weeks Leave a Comment

If you haven’t noticed, Stoicism is getting popular these days. Google it, and a raft of influencer and popular thought leader articles appear touting the philosophy’s benefits. As Nassim Taleb ascribes to the stoic sage in his book The Black Swan: “…is someone who transforms fear into prudence, pain into information, mistakes into initiation, and desire into undertaking.”

I want that.

Such attributes and information seeking is coveted by the Silicon Valley startup culture, always looking for some form of mental hack or emotional optimization. At a recent Ted Talk Tim Ferriss touted “fear setting,” a stoic exercise using negative thinking, he published the Tao of Seneca and Ryan Holiday has written a book popular with NFL coaches, athletes and celebrities that draws its inspiration directly from stoicism. 

Stoicism is a philosophy that emerged in a world full of war, political crisis and unrest. Invented in Athens in the early 3rd century, it offered a path to inner peace and happiness in the midst of it all. Stoics taught no one could touch the soul or the self. ALL else is outside of your control.

“Some things are within our power, while others are not. Within our power are opinion, motivation, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever is of our own doing; not within our power are our body, our property, reputation, office, and, in a word, whatever is not of our own doing.” Epictetus

Simple idea, yet difficult to live out. How many times do we act as if we can control things we really cannot? We worry or complain hoping for some magical impact to the outcome. According to the Stoics, that is a source of mental tribulation and according to psychology, neurosis.

“It is a fundamental tenet of stoicism, the Dichotomy of Control, that certain things are up to you and other things are not up to you” – Massimo Pigliucci

The challenges I faced trying to apply the dichotomy of control, among other stoic practices, revived my interest in the philosophy a couple of years ago. The more I explored however, the more questions I had so it was a real privilege to talk with philosopher–scientist Massimo Pigliucci, the author of the recently published How to Be A Stoic: Using Ancient Philosophy to Live a Modern Life.

Prof. Massimo Pigliucci is the K.D. Irani Professor of Philosophy at the City College of New York. Prof. Pigliucci has published in national and international outlets such as the New York Times, Washington Post, Philosophy Now and The Philosopher’s Magazine, among others. At last count, he has published 152 technical papers in science and philosophy.

This is no boring philosophy discussion.

The majority of our conversation is about Stoicism’s real world practicality especially in dealing with life’s ups and downs, including an interesting discussion about death and how he overcame that fear.

If you’re new to Stoicism and want to know more here is your lesson with the Professor. Give it a listen and fortify your mind.

Show Notes and Resources

 [00:04:24] On stereotypes – what people get wrong about Stoicism 

[00:06:07] Defining Stoicism, some history  

[00:14:15] Stoicisms influence

[00:24:44] On prison testing, Nelson Mandela and James Stockdale 

[00:28:38] A comparison of Stoicism and Buddhism 

[00:32:02] On Stoic meditation 

[00:33:37] Practice similarities between Christianity, Judaism and Islam

[00:36:02] On Stoicism and theism 

[00:37:34] On dealing with setbacks 

[00:39:16] Internalizing the dichotomy of control 

[00:52:25] On the fear of death. 

[00:55:17] On indifference

Filed Under: Business, Career, Happiness, Overcoming Adversity, Personal Growth

About Larry Weeks

Larry is a technologist, consultant and host of the Bounce podcast.

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PODCAST ARCHIVE

  • EP: 47: CHATTER: ETHAN KROSS ON UNDERSTANDING AND MANAGING THE VOICE IN OUR HEAD
  • EP.46: HIGH ON LIFE: TOMMY CHONG ON PRISON, POT AND KARMA
  • EP. 45: SURVIVING SURVIVAL: LAURENCE GONZALES ON TRAUMA AND NEW NORMALS
  • Ep. 44: FREEDOM FROM RESULTS : MASSIMO PIGLIUCCI ON REDEFINING SUCCESS
  • EP. 43: MAKING BETTER DECISIONS: ANNIE DUKE ON CREATING YOUR OWN CRYSTAL BALL.
  • EP. 42: HOW TO FEEL GREAT: DR. DAVID BURNS ON WHAT NEGATIVE EMOTIONS ARE TRYING TO TELL US
  • EP. 41: MISTAKES WERE MADE: CAROL TAVRIS AND ELLIOT ARONSON ON COGNITIVE BIAS AND LEARNING FROM THE ERROR OF OUR WAYS
  • EP. 40: HOW WILL WE BEHAVE? RORY SUTHERLAND ON THE NEW WORLD OF WORK AND CONSUMER BEHAVIOR POST COVID-19
  • EP.39: CORONAVIRUS UPDATES: JAMES ALTUCHER AND BOUNCE BACK PREDICTIONS
  • EP.38: HOW STOICS KEEP CALM, WILLIAM B. IRVINE ON PHILOSOPHICAL FRAMING
  • EP. 37: THE WEDGE, SCOTT CARNEY ON STRESS AND HACKING THE NERVOUS SYSTEM
  • EP. 36: CORONAVIRUS QA WITH DR. ALEX LICKERMAN, M.D.
  • EP. 35: STRESS INOCULATION: STEVEN SOUTHWICK ON THE SCIENCE OF RESILIENCE AND COPING WITH EXTREMES
  • EP. 34: THE MOTIVATION EQUATION: PIERS STEEL ON HOW TO STOP PUTTING THINGS OFF
  • EP. 33: LIVING THE LIVES WE WANT: NIR EYAL ON BEING INDISTRACTABLE
  • A FRAMEWORK FOR HUMAN EFFORT
  • THE TECH FALLACY:
  • Learning To Live With Learning Machines:
  • WORKING WITH A.I. :
  • MAKING CHANGE HAPPEN:
  • THE WISDOM ASSET:
  • EP. 26: SECOND CHANCES: CATHERINE HOKE ON REDEMPTIVE ENTREPRENEURSHIP
  • EP.25: MELTDOWNS: CHRIS CLEARFIELD ON PREVENTING SYSTEM FAILURES
  • EP.24: MEANING AND WORK: FRED KOFMAN ON THE ROI OF PURPOSE
  • EP 23: MOTIVATION MYTHS: JEFF HADEN ON PROCESS VS. PASSION
  • EP.22: HOW TO THINK IN BETS: ANNIE DUKE ON POKER, PROBABILITIES AND BETTER DECISIONS
  • EP.21: MEDITATION FOR FIDGETY SKEPTICS: JEFF WARREN ON A DIFFERENT WAY OF BEING
  • EP. 20: CHOICE ARCHITECTURE: RORY SUTHERLAND ON THE PSYCHOLOGY OF ADVERTISING
  • NOT IMPOSSIBLE: SUSANNAH MEADOWS ON MEDICINE, MINDSET AND MOTIVATION
  • EP. 18: HOW TO TALK TO YOURSELF: MARISA PEER ON RAPID TRANSFORMATION
  • SURVIVING ASSHOLES: ROBERT SUTTON ON OUTWITTING JERKS IN YOUR LIFE
  • HOW TO GET OUT OF YOUR OWN WAY: TASHA EURICH ON SELF AWARENESS
  • EP. 15: ON THE IMPORTANCE OF HARD THINGS: CAROLINE MILLER
  • EP. 14: ON FAILURE PART 2, FAILING WELL: ASHLEY GOOD
  • EP 13: FAILURE PART 1 : FAIL FAST, FAIL OFTEN: RYAN BABINEAUX
  • EP. 12: HOW TO BOUNCE BACK OVER AND OVER AGAIN: A TALK WITH JAMES ALTUCHER
  • EP.11: HAPPINESS AND TECHNOLOGY IN THE DIGITAL ERA: AMY BLANKSON
  • EP.10: AFTER CANCER: DR. WENDY HARPHAM, HAPPY IN A STORM
  • EP. 9: A PHILOSOPHY FOR HARD TIMES: MASSIMO PIGLIUCCI
  • Ep. 8: SUCCESS, FACTS & FICTIONS: ERIC BARKER
  • EP.7: RESILIENT GRIEVING: DR. LUCY HONE TALKS ABOUT LIVING WITH LOSS
  • EP. 6: WHAT DOESN’T KILL YOU: A TALK WITH SCOTT CARNEY
  • EP. 5: FEELING GOOD, OVERCOMING DEPRESSION AND DISTORTED THINKING: DR DAVID BURNS
  • EP. 4: HOW GOING BLIND HELPED ME SEE: ISAAC LIDSKY
  • EP.3: WHY THINGS BOUNCE BACK: ANDREW ZOLLI
  • EP. 2: ON CREATING AN UNDEFEATABLE MIND: DR. ALEX LICKERMAN
  • EP. 1: NO ARMS, NO LEGS, NO EXCUSES: KYLE MAYNARD
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